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Xibels on Maebinoton 



A CRITICAL EXAMINATION 



THEREOF 



GEORGE H. MOORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LIBRARY 



' Let his great example stand 
Colossal, seen of every land." 
Tennyson 



NEW YORK 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 

MDCCCLXXXIX 



/ 



%ibel8 on Masbinoton 



(o^ 



A CRITICAL EXAMINATION 



THEREOF 



y 



GEORGE H.*^OORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LIBRARY 



' Let his great example stand 
Colossal, seen of every land." 
Tennyson 




NEW YORK 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 

MDCCCLXXXIX 

cx3 



Copyright, 1887, by 
GEORGE H, MOORE. 



TROWS 

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING OOMPANV, 

NEW YORK. 



.It 




LIBELS ON WASHINGTON. 




•HERE is a curious propensity in human nature 
to recognize with readiness, if not to seek with 
eager interest, for any possible blot on the 
fair escutcheon of a virtuous and honorable 
life and character ; to spy out defects, if not to magnify 
them ; and thus to reduce the loftier heads more nearly 
to the average line of elevation. After making every al- 
lowance for the unconscious falsity of our judgments re- 
specting those who are our betters in any respect, there 
is still a great gulf of envy, if not of hatred, malice 
and all uncharitableness, in human existence, whose fogs 
darken many, if not most, of our views of life, often 
obscuring the great light of truth itself. This fact may 
account for, if it does not excuse, a great part of the per- 
sonal scandals current in our history ; and illustrate the 
morbid taste and fondness for the unwholesome traditions 
which disfigure so many of its pages. 

When the name and fame of GEORGE WASHINGTON 
cease to be honored and cherished among his countrymen, 
the United States of America will no longer hold an honor- 



4 Libels on Washington. 

able place among the nations of the earth. Yet he could 
not escape calumny in the height of his fame when living ; 
and since his death there have not been wanting those 
who would fain distinguish themselves as tale-bearers to 
coming generations by prolonging the echoes of ancient 
scandal and recording with painful and elaborate care the 
weak and wicked traditions of contemporary malice or he- 
reditary hate against the man whose place in human his- 
tory is well defined in Shakespeare's famous prophecy of 
an English King — 

" Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine 
His honour and the greatness of his name 
Shall be, and make new nations." 

The libels on his character to which I wish to direct at- 
tention at this time were intended to fix and substantiate the 
charges of a temper so violent as to be ungovernable when 
roused and gross profanity on various occasions. They 
have been growing with the advancing years, in the shape 
of hints, innuendoes, stories which " it would hardly do to 
repeat," illustrations of " weaknesses common to all, even 
the greatest of men," unnecessary apologies, and all the 
other forms of insidious depreciation, sometimes rather 
weak than hostile, but always disgraceful and unworthy, 
in the estimation of Gratitude, Honor and Justice. His- 
torical criticism can never be better employed than in 
stamping out these mischievous little fires of malice or 
folly before they reach and envelope the stately structures 
which it is a pious duty to preserve. 

The two principal scenes of Washington's alleged vio- 
lence of temper and gross profanity under its influence 



Libels on Washington. 5 

were the battlefield of Monmouth in June, 1778, in 
the third year of his command of the Revolutionary- 
Army, and his own house in Philadelphia in December, 
1791, in the third year of his Presidency of the United 
States. Several years ago, in a paper which I had the 
honor to read before the New-York Historical Society, 
I said, with respect to the former occasion : 

" Great excitement and want of dignity culminating in 
violent threats and even gross cursing and profanity have 
been ascribed to Washington in his interview with Lee. 
There is no evidence of any historical value to sustain this 
disgraceful charge, and the man who repeats it ought 
always to be challenged to the proof. If there was one 
common vice against which Washington's face was set 
like a flint, from the beginning to the end of his military 
career, it Avas this very habit of profane swearing." 

If any proof has been offered to confirm the vulgar 
stories in vogue concerning the language and demeanor 
of Washington on that occasion, I have not heard of it ; 
and it is my firm conviction that nothing of the kind 
worthy of credit can be discovered ; but that any and all 
attempts to substantiate the reports referred to may be 
very easily disposed of by any right-minded and compe- 
tent historical critic. A few words will suffice for my 
present purpose. 

The scenes and events of that day were the subject of 
a prolonged and very critical investigation while the 
actors in them were still within reach and, as it were, fresh 
from the field. General Lee's trial by a general court 
martial, beginning on the 4th of July, six days after the 
battle, ended on the 12th of August, with his suspension 



6 Libels on Washington. 

from any command in the armies of the United States of 
North America, for the term of twelve months. The 
statements of General Washington and General Lee in 
the correspondence which led to the Court Martial, the 
sworn testimony of the witnesses upon the trial, and the 
defence of General Lee himself, furnish conclusive evi- 
dence of the utter falsehood of these pretended traditions 
which have gained entrance where they ought never to 
have been received for a moment. 

Let the following General Orders distinctly testify what 
their author was determined to enforce wherever his au- 
thority could reach with reference to this matter. In his 
earliest important command, when placed at the head of 
the Virginia forces raised for the defence of the frontier 
after Braddock's defeat — among the first orders issued 
upon his arrival at Fort Cumberland was the following : 

" Col. Washington has observed, that the men of his 
regiment are very profane and reprobate. He takes this 
opportunity to inform them of his great displeasure at 
such practices, and assures them, that, if they do not 
leave them off they shall be severely punished. The offi- 
cers are desired, if they hear any man swear, or make use 
of an oath or execration, to order the offender twenty-five 
lashes immediately, without a court-martial. For the 
second offence, he will be more severely punished." 
Sparks : ii. 167 note, xii. 400. 

This was in 1756, when Washington was in his twenty- 
fifth year. Twenty years later, in the summer of 1776, 
at New York, when he was at the head of the Army of the 
Revolution, the following appeared among the General 
Orders of August 3d : 



Libels on Washington. 7 

" The General is sorry to be informed, that the fooHsh 
and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice 
heretofore Httle known in an American army, is growing 
into fashion ; he hopes the officers will, by example as 
well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both 
they and the men will reflect, that we can have little hope 
of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by 
our impiety and folly ; added to this, it is a vice so mean 
and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense 
and character detests and despises it." Sparks : iv. 28; 
xii. 401. 

Is it probable, nay, is it possible, that the author of 
these orders ever lost or forgot the character and princi- 
ples of his youth and manhood from which they came, so 
that in later years he became accustomed to 

" unpack his heart with words, 
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab," 

or emphasize the utterances of excited passion with habit- 
ual profanity ? I think not ! 

Of what took place in Philadelphia in the winter of 
1 791, upon the second occasion to which I have referred, 
there are two versions, both of which I shall reproduce 
here in their chronological order of publication — as the 
readiest way to indicate their want of authority, as mate- 
rials of history. 

In a series of articles contributed to the Alexandria 
Gazette, a Virginia newspaper established in 1800 and still 
published in that ancient city, Mr. GEORGE WASHING- 
TON Parke Custis furnished one which appeared in that 



8 Libels on Washington. 

paper on the I2th of July, 1827, containing among others, 
the following passages : 

Mr. Custis's Version: 1827. 

" We proceed to something more grave. 

" The president was dining, when an officer arrived from 
the western army with despatches, his orders requiring tliat 
he should deliver them only to the commander-in-chief. 
The president retired, but soon reappeared, bearing in his 
hand an open letter. No change was perceptible in his 
countenance, as addressing the company he observed that 
the army of St. Clair had been surprised by the Indians, 
and was cut to pieces. The company soon after retired. 
The president repaired to his private parlor, attended by 
Mr. Lear, his principal secretary, and a scene ensued of 
which our pen can give but a feeble description. 

"The chief paced the room in hurried strides. In his 
agony, he struck his clenched hands with fearful force 
against his forehead, and in a paroxysm of anguish ex- 
claimed : ' That brave army, so officered — Butler, Ferguson, 
Kirkwood — such officers are not to be replaced in a day — 
that brave army cut to pieces, O God ! ' Then turning to 
the secretary, who stood amazed at a spectacle so unique, 
as Washington in all his terrors, he continued: ' It was here, 
sir, in this very room, that I conversed with St. Clair, on 
the very eve of his departure for the West. I remarked, I 
shall not interfere, general, with the orders of General Knox, 
and the war department ; they are sufficiently comprehen- 
sive and judicious ; but, as an old soldier, as one whose 
early life was particularly engaged in Indian warfare, I feel 
myself competent to counsel ; General St. Clair, in three 
words, beware of surprise ; trust not the Indian ; leave not 
your arms for a moment ; and when you halt for the night, 
be sure to fortify your camp — again and again, general, be- 
ware of surprise. And yet that brave army surprised, and 
cut to pieces, with Butler, and a host of others slain, O God!' 
Here the struggle ended, as with mighty efforts the hero 



Libels on Washington. 9 

chained down the rebellious giant of passion, and Washing- 
ton became ' himself again.' In a subdued tone of voice, 
he proceeded : ' But he shall have justice ; yes, long, faith- 
ful, and meritorious services have their claims. I repeat — 
he shall have justice.' 

" Thus concluded a scene as remarkable as rare. It served 
to display this great man as nature had made him, with pas- 
sions fierce and impetuous, which, like the tornado of the 
tropics, would burst for a while in awful grandeur, and then 
show, in higher relief, a serene and brilliant sky. 

"The first interview of the president with St. Clair, after 
the fatal fourth of November, was nobly impressive. The 
unfortunate general, worn down by age, disease and the 
hardships of a frontier campaign, assailed by the press, and 
with the current of popular opinion setting hard against 
him, repaired to his chief, as to a shelter from the fury of 
so many elements. Washington extended his hand to one 
who appeared in no new character ; for, during the whole 
of a long life, misfortune seemed ' to have marked him for 
her own.' Poor old St. Clair hobbled up to his chief, seized 
the offered hand in both of his, and gave vent to his feelings 
in an audible manner. He was subsequently tried by a 
commission of government, and proved to have been unfort- 
unate." 

Although thus made public in 1827, this story seems 
to have attracted no considerable attention at the time. 
More than thirty years later, it was reproduced in a vol- 
ume oi Recollections, etc., published in New York. Two 
years before this reproduction, Mr. Richard Rush pub- 
lished an account of Washington in Domestic Life — a work 
founded chiefly on the correspondence of Washington with 
Colonel Tobias Lear, who was for many years his private 
secretary. In this work, Mr. Rush presented the other 
version of the affair, to which I have referred. 

There was nothing in the original publication of Mr. 



lo Libels on* Washington. 

Custis, nor his Recollections, as edited by Mr. Lossing, 
in which it reappeared, to indicate his authority, but the 
editor added a note in which, after reproducing the Rush 
version, he said that Rush's account " corresponds with 
that of Mr. Custis written thirty years before," adding, 
" Mr. Custis doubtless also received his information from 
the lips of Mr. Lear.'" Recollections: 418 note. Mr. 
Rush's authority is given in his statement, which appeared 
in the volume to which I have referred, published at 
Philadelphia early in 1857 and about six months before 
the death of Mr. Custis. 

Mr. Rush's Version : 1857. 

" An anecdote I derived from Colonel Lear shortly be- 
fore his death in 1816, may here be related, showing the 
height to which his [Washington's] passion would rise yet 
be controlled. It belongs to his domestic life which I am 
dealing with, having occurred under his own roof, whilst it 
marks public feeling the most intense, and points to the 
moral of his life. I give it in Colonel Lear's words as nearly 
as I can, having made a note of them at the time. 

" Towards the close of a winter's day in 1791, an officer in 
uniform was seen to dismount in front of the President's in 
Philadelphia, and, giving the bridle to his servant, knock at 
the door of his mansion. Learning from the porter that 
the President was at dinner, he said he was on public bvisi- 
ness and had dispatches for the President. A servant was 
sent into the dining-room to give the information to Mr. 
Lear, who left the table and went into the hall where the 
officer repeated what he had said. Mr. Lear replied that, as 
the President's Secretary, he would take charge of the dis- 
patches and deliver them at the proper time. The officer 

' In response to a letter of inquiry on this subject, Dr. Lossing says that 
Custis "told me he received the account of the affair from Colonel Lear." 
MS. letter, January 4, 1886. 



Libels on Washington. ii 

made answer that he had just arrived from the western 
army, and his orders were to deliver them with all prompti- 
tude, and to the President in person ; but that he would 
wait his directions. Mr. Lear returned, and in a whisper 
imparted to the President what had passed. General Wash- 
ington rose from the table, and went to the officer. He was 
back in a short time, made a word of apology for his absence, 
but no allusion to the cause of it. He had company that 
day. Everything went on as usual. Dinner over, the gen- 
tlemen passed to the drawing-room of Mrs. Washington, 
which was open in the evening. The General spoke cour- 
teously to every lady in the room, as was his custom. His 
hours were early, and by ten o'clock all the company had 
gone. Mrs. Washington and Mr. Lear remained. Soon 
Mrs. Washington left the room. 

" The General now walked backward and forward slowly 
for some minutes without speaking. Then he sat down on 
a sofa by the fire, telling Mr. Lear to sit down. To this 
moment there had been no change in his manner since his 
interruption at table. Mr. Lear now perceived emotion. 
This rising in him, he broke out suddenly, '■ Ifs all over — 
St. Clair's defeated — routed; the officers nearly all killed^ the mefi 
by wholesale ; the rout complete — too shocking to think of — and a 
surprise into the bargain ! ' 

"He uttered all this with great vehemence. Then he 
paused, got up from the sofa and walked about the room 
several times, agitated but saying nothing. Near the door 
he stopped short and stood still a few seconds, when his 
wrath became terrible. 

" * Yes,' he burst forth, ' here on this very spot, I took leave 
of him ; I wished him success and honor ; you have your instruc- 
tions, I said, from the Secretary of War, I had a strict eye to 
them, and will add but one word — beware of a surprise. / re- 
peat it, BEWARE OF A SURPRISE— _>w« know how the 
Lidians fight us. He went off with that as 7ny last solemn warn- 
ing thrown into his ears. And yet ! ! to suffer that army to be 
cut to pieces, hack'd, butchered, tomahawk' d, by a surprise — the 
very thing I guarded him against ! ! O God, O God, he's worse 



12 Libels on Washington. 

than a viiu'derer ! how can he answer it to his country ; — the 
blood of the slain is t/pon him — the curse of widows and orphans 
— the curse of Heave7i ! ' 

"This torrent came out in tones appalling. His very 
frame shook. It was awful, said Mr. Lear. More than 
once he threw his hands up as he hurled imprecations 
upon St. Clair. Mr. Lear remained speecliless ; awed into 
breathless silence. 

" The roused Chief sat down on the sofa once more. He 
seemed conscious of his passion, and uncomfortable. He 
was silent. His warmth beginning to subside, he at length 
said in an altered voice : ' This must not go beyotid this room.' 
Another pause followed — a longer one — when he said in a 
tone quite low, ' General St. Clair shall have justice ; I looked 
hastily through the dispatches, saw the whole disaster but not all 
the particulars j I will receive him jvithout displeasure ; I will 
hear him without prejudice ; he shall have full justice.' 

" He was now, said Mr. Lear, perfectly calm. Half an 
hour had gone by. The storm was over ; and no sign of it 
was afterwards seen in his conduct or heard in his conver- 
sation. The result is known. The whole case was investi- 
gated by Congress. St. Clair was exculpated and regained 
the confidence Washington had in him when appointing 
him to that command. He had put himself into the thick- 
est of the fight and escaped unhurt, though so ill as to be 
carried on a litter, and unable to mount his horse without 
help." Washington in Domestic Life : pp. 65-69. 

This is no sudden outbreak — it is carefully prepared, 
wilful and deliberately studied rage. There is nothing 
spontaneous, hearty or genuine about it — it has the tainted 
flavor of falsehood throughout. It is not improbable that 
the sudden anguish of sorrow may have elicited from 
Washington on the first news of the disaster an ejacula- 
tion of despairing appeal to heaven, such as many devout 
hearts have uttered and will utter in extremity. Possibly 



Libels on Washington. 13 

some reminiscence of conversations with St. Clair about 
the well known dangers of Indian warfare might have 
rushed to his mind and inspired the utterance of a strong 
regret, in the first excitement of so unexpected a report 
as the first which reached him through the press and pub- 
lic rumor. It is difficult to believe, however, that the 
preposterous story related by Rush could grow from so 
small a grain of seed by any natural or legitimate process. 
This studied preparation and postponement of the per- 
formance until the arrival of the official account, this in- 
vincible reserve and self-control until the stage was set 
and everything was ready for the fulfilment of such a pro- 
gramme — let him who can or will believe it ! 

"Credat Judseus Apella 
Non ego ! ' ' 

In the first place, the whole affair bears an aspect en- 
tirely out of harmony or agreement with anything and 
everything we know of the personal character of Wash- 
ington. It fills the mind of the reader with astonishment 
at its revelations, so utterly are they in contrast with the 
almost universal estimate of the man. I well remember 
the feeling with which I read the story myself for the first 
time. I could not and did not believe it. But as I have 
noted one by one the channels through which this poison- 
ous stuff has wrought its way into the body of American 
History, my indignation has risen to the height of deter- 
mination to fix, if possible, the limits of its further circula- 
tion. 

In both versions, this extraordinary, not to say mar- 
vellous, tale carries the evidences of invention on its face 
and in its details. Let us examine these : first, as they 



14 Libels on Washington. 

stand by themselves, hitherto accepted without challenge 
or criticism ; and then, in the light of such known and 
indisputable facts as can be brought to bear on them in 
the way of critical illustration. 

It is not necessary for me to point out the want of 
agreement, if not contradiction in the details of these two 
stories or two versions of the same story. However inter- 
esting in analysis, it will be seen that these are compar- 
atively of little importance in the present examination, 
which concerns the integrity of the whole affair. 

Of all the stories which have been produced with solemn 
details of seeming authenticity, concerning alleged out- 
bursts of uncontrollable passion from General Washington, 
this one, the latest and most elaborate, is, in my judgment, 
as ridiculous and improbable as any and perhaps the most 
absurd of them all, although most carefully prepared. 

Mr. Rush gravely introduces the history of this per- 
formance by the President of the United States and that 
President George Washington ! as an illustration of" the 
height to which his passion would rise and yet be con- 
trolled ! " It is difficult to imagine what could have fol- 
lowed in any finer frenzy of passion, if Mr. Rush himself 
had further prolonged the agony of the scene — before 
dropping the curtain on his highly dramatic version of a 
secondhand reminiscence of a reminiscence. What was 
the nature and extent of control thus manifested by Wash- 
ington ? It is alleged that the intelligence or news of 
disaster had been in his possession for several hours be- 
fore he began to show " emotion." He is represented as 
going through all the formalities of a dinner, at which he 
had the company of guests, and the parting services and 



Libels on Washington. 15 

civilities of an after-dinner reception. Mrs. Washington 
herself had retired. Nobody remained but the Secretary, 
Mr. Lear, when this extraordinary private exhibition of 
himself was indulged in by the President — a series of ex- 
plosions of violent and wrathful passion in terms unre- 
strained and in every sense outrageous — for they were 
accompanied with violent gestures as he "hurled impre- 
cations upon St, Clair." 

The dramatic arrangement of the story is itself suspi- 
cious, and invites if it does not challenge critical attention. 
None of the effects are lost : and the singular role which 
is assigned to Washington is consistent enough through- 
out all its details although it is felt to be impossible in 
view of his personal character. I expect to prove it to be 
untrue by a just array of the real facts in the case. No- 
where is the task of the historical critic more grateful 
than in the exposure of such errors, whether they result 
from malice or ignorance, or both combined, or the sheer 
indifference to truth of the historical story-teller. 

Mr. Rush states that his narrative was derived from 
Colonel Lear in 1816 — seventeen years after the death of 
Washington — and was noted by him at the time. Colonel 
Lear died on the tenth of October, 1816, in the City of 
Washington, of which Mr. Rush was at that time a resi- 
dent, as Attorney-General of the United States, 

Mr. Irving has given credit to the story, and even added 
a touch of embellishment in a remark attributed to Wash- 
ington on resuming his seat at the dinner table ;^ but as he 

' " One of the company, however, overheard him, as he took his seat, mut- 
ter to himself, with an ejaculation of extreme impatience, ' I knew it would be 
so ! ' " Irving^s Washington : v. 107. 



1 6 Libels on Washington. 

furnishes no authority for his variation from Mr. Rush, I 
have no hesitation in assigning it to the same faculty of 
vivid imagination which has led Mr. McMaster in his miti- 
gated abridgment of it all, to indulge the courier's horse in 
a gallop through the streets of Philadelphia and his rider 
with full uniform and an orderly servant at his crupper.' 
It is difficult to understand the motive of this extraordi- 
nary spurt on the home stretch after so long a journey out 
of the Western wilderness, or the need of such conspicu- 
ous haste — all which must be explained in the same way 
as the alleged necessity of delivery to the President in 
person, etc. It is perfectly obvious that these details 
were made up to fit the tale as it was to be told. 

It is not my business to explain or account for the ori- 
gin of this story. Mr. Rush credits it all to Colonel Lear, 
who would thus be convicted out of his own mouth of 
violating the solemn injunction of his great chief — "This 

1 Extract from McMaster's History of the People of the United States : 
ii. 43. 

" . . . news of a still more alarming kind came from Ohio. An of- 
ficer in full miiform was seen one afternoon to gallop through the streets of 
the city, draw up at the President's door, throw his bridle to an orderly, and 
hastily ascend the steps. The President, he was told was at dinner and could 
not see him. But he insisted so firmly that the servant took his message to 
Mr. Lear, who then acted as private secretary to Washington. The secretary 
came out, was told by the officer that the letters could be delivered to none 
but the President, went back and whispered his message in the President's 
ear. But none of the company who looked on the placid and motionless face 
of Washington, as he again took his seat among them, saw any sign of the 
passion that raged within. Not till the meal was ended, and the last guest 
had departed, did he give way to his feelings and burst forth into a storm of 
reproaches. For a while, Mr. Lear was at a loss to know what to make of 
it ; nor did he learn, till the fury had spent itself, that General St. Clair had 
been beaten and put to flight by the savages in the West." 

Mr. McMaster's authorities are Washington in Domestic Life, by R. Rush ; 
and Recollections and Private Memoirs, by G. W. P. Custis, pp. 416-419. 



Libels on Washington. 17 

must not go beyond this room." ' It strikes me however 
that a man so intelligent and acute as Mr, Rush might well 
have found time during the fort}^ years that he kept it to 
himself to apply a little of his historical sense ; and test this 
remarkable story by some of the usual methods of just and 
wholesome criticism before setting it forth to the world in 
print. Colonel Lear's failure to maintain his fidelity to the 
end was certainly not due to the weakness and garrulity of 
age, for he died in his fifty-fourth year. Mr. Rush is re- 
sponsible ; for although Mr. Custis's version appeared in 
print thirty years before, either Mr. Rush was ignorant of 
the fact, or he concealed it ; and so his responsibility for 
the publication remains.'^ A noticeable feature of this re- 
sponsibility is the carefully studied typography in which 
this delectable matter is presented to the eye of the reader. 
All the resources of the printer for emphasis are taxed to 
the utmost — dashes, exclamation points, italics, small cap- 
itals, and capitals, which are used nowhere else in the vol- 
ume are here in profuse and staring abundance. 

It does not seem to have occurred to Mr. Rush that he 
was emphasizing his own responsibility : not only for a very 

' In his notice of one of Washington's letters to Colonel Lear from Rich- 
mond, April 12, 1791, Mr. Rush exhibits a sensitive regard to the obligation 
of confidence imposed on his correspondent by the writer. He says : ' ' This 
is a letter of four closely written pages, mainly, though not exclusively, about 
his servants and the difficulties with them under the non-slavery laws of Phila- 
delphia ; but as he requests that the knowledge of its contents and the senti- 
ments he expresses may be confined to Mr. Lear and Mrs. Washington, I 
notice no more of it." Washington in Domestic Life : pp. 36-37. si 
sic omnia ! 

^ Mr. Rush was familiar with some of the contributions of Mr. Custis to the 
public press, for he says of them, " the productions of his patriotic pen have 
charmed the public by the anecdotes they record in attractive ways of the per- 
sonal, rural, and other habits of the great Chief." Washington in Domestic 
Life: 24, note. 



1 8 Libels on Washington. 

gross libel on the memory of Washington — for such it is 
when justly considered ; but also a very elaborate tissue 
of falsehoods — for such I will now positively show it to be, 
beyond any reasonable question ! 

The facts concerning the receipt of intelligence from 
the Western Army in Philadelphia in December, 1791, 
can be clearly and distinctly proved without a shadow of 
doubt in any respect : and the simplest statement of them 
will put an end to the marvellous tradition of Mr, Custis 
and Mr. Rush — so shamefully allowed to appear in the 
pages of American history, not only without the slightest 
critical examination, but tricked out in ornamental rhet- 
oric for additional emphasis. 

The defeat of St. Clair took place on the 4th of No- 
vember, The dispatch in which he announced it to his 
superior officer was written and dated at Fort Washing- 
ton, 9th November, 1791, and sent to Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, to take the chance of the first opportunity that of- 
fered, by which it might reach its destination. It was 
addressed to General Henry Knox, then Secretary of the 
Department of War, to whom official duty and military 
etiquette alike required that it should be transmitted. It 
was so transmitted, and was received by him on Sunday 
evening, December nth, 1791, in Philadelphia. 

The news however was at Lexington as early as the 
nth of November, when a circular letter appeared from 
Brigadier General Scott, to the different County Lieuten- 
ants in Kentucky, announcing the receipt of certain in- 
telligence that the army had been defeated with very great 
loss. This letter was dated " Lexington, Nov. 11, 1791," 



Libels on Washington. 19 

and was printed in TJie Kentucky Gazette, one of the ear- 
liest newspapers printed west of the Alleghany Mountains. 

The news was forwarded by express to Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, where it appeared in Tlie Virginia Gazette of the 
2d December. This paper was received in Philadelphia 
on the 8th and the melancholy intelligence was pubHshed 
in the newspapers there on the following day, December 
9th and repeated also on the lOth, two successive days 
before that in the evening of which the official dispatch 
first came to hand. There was no doubt of the authentic- 
ity of the earliest report of the 8th — an unexpected shock 
which created great excitement throughout the com- 
munity. 

Philadelphia was then the seat of government, and 
Congress was at that time in session. On the following 
day, Friday, the ninth of December, Mr. Sedgwick sug- 
gested in the House of Representatives, the necessity of 
meeting the next day, as they might probably receive 
some official communications from the President respect- 
ing the late accounts from the westward : it was however 
agreed to adjourn until Monday as usual. 

On Sunday, December nth, in the evening, the first 
official information arrived, being St. Clair's first express 
by way of Lexington bringing his letter of the 9th of No- 
vember to General Knox. 

On the day following, Monday, December 12th, Presi- 
dent Washington sent in his message of that date to the 
House of Representatives " Communicating sundry dis- 
patches received yesterday by express from General St. 
Clair, which were read and ordered to lie on the table." 
They were printed in the newspapers on the 13th. 



20 Libels on Washington. 

All the dispatches from St. Clair were addressed and 
sent as they should have been to the Secretary of War, 
General Knox, and were delivered to him by the messen- 
gers to whom they had been entrusted. The statement 
that they had and carried out instructions to deliver any 
of them to the President in person is not only improbable 
on its face, but in view of all the facts now determined, 
obviously false. No dispatches of that sort addressed to 
President Washington have ever been seen, or heard of, 
excepting in the tradition of Custis and Rush attributed 
to Colonel Lear. The contents of the official dispatches 
had been anticipated, and the intelligence of the disaster 
in its worst aspect had reached the President and the 
public no less than three entire days before the arrival of 
the first of them. The whole dinner table story vanishes 
in this clear atmosphere of surrounding facts, which can 
neither be denied nor explained away. There is nothing 
left of it. 

There is one record of discomposure on the part of 
Washington which carries on its face some color of au- 
thenticity. It is that of Mr. Jefferson, who tells his story 
of a cabinet meeting at the President's House on the 2d 
of August, 1793. That the Anas of this writer are not 
the best of authority in history has been proved more 
than once : but on this occasion they furnish what pur- 
ports to be contemporary evidence by the man himself 
who more than any other was ultimately responsible for 
the outrages which elicited the wrath of Washington — to 
show what was the expression of that wrath. It is certain 
that Mr. Jefferson could have had no disposition to soften 



Libels on Washington. 21 

Washington's language. He set out to make a record 
that the President was addicted to the indulgence of pas- 
sion in which he lost all self-control ; and it is not prob- 
able that he diminished the force of any expression. 
And what is this record of " the faithful Jefferson," as he 
is styled by our latest historian, who, as he portrays the 
character of the Father of his Country, listens to hear his 
oaths, and stares at the terrible exhibitions of his rage 
and passion ! Mc Master : ii. in, 453. 

Mr. Jefferson's Story. 

At a meeting of the Cabinet at the P resident's, August 2d, 1793. 

" . . . The President was much inflamed ; got into 
one of those passions when he cannot command himself ; 
ran on much on the personal abuse which had been be- 
stowed on him ; defied any man on earth to produce one 
single act of his since he had been in the government, which 
was not done on the purest motives ; that he had never re- 
pented but once the having slipped the moment of resigning 
his office, and that was every moment since ; that by God he 
had rather be in his grave than in his present situation ; 
that he had rather be on his farm than to be made Emperor 
of the world ; and yet that they were charging him with 
wanting to be a King. That that rascal Freneau sent him 
three of his papers every day, as if he thought he would 
become the distributor of his papers ; that he could see 
in this, nothing but an impudent design to insult him : he 
ended in this high tone." Jefferson's Anas : Works : ix. 164. 

" Only this, and nothing more." To those who are 
familiar with the villainous license and unscrupulous men- 
dacity of the partisan press at that period — which has 
hardly been equalled and never surpassed in our subse- 



22 Libels on Washington. 

quent history — the " high tone " as well as the vigor and 
strength of language attributed to the President will not 
seem inappropriate ; and while some may regret that he 
called God to witness the anguish of his spirit under these 
sore trials — certainly all must agree that there is upon the 
whole no justification whatever for the accusation of un- 
governable passion or habitual profanity under its excite- 
ment. 

If anybody hereafter should be anxious to establish any 
similar charges, I think I am justified in saying that he 
must provide better apparatus and authorities than any of 
those which have been under examination at this time. 



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